Some years ago, I started writing a novel called “Bandit Signs.” It was to be about real estate agents and investors and all the sleazy, unethical things they do to get ahead.
As a second time novelist I had no great skills in mapping out a plot or developing characters. I had a situation in mind and not much more.
The villain was a phony sort of community activist running a scam out of his garage. On weekends he’d assemble a band of do-gooders to patrol the neighborhood. It was set in the Sloan’s Lake area of Denver.
The gullible volunteers would cruise around and confiscate those WE BUY HOUSES signs that you see mounted on ground stakes and telephone poles. They’d return the signs to their leader’s garage. To them it was a community clean-up.
But to this duplicitous dude it was a profit center. He’d bring in another crew (Crew 2) to repurpose the signs, replacing the phone numbers with his own.
Then they’d cruise around and mount the signs on ground stakes and telephone poles. His own phone would ring off the hook while his competitors were thwarted.
The plot had holes, for sure, in basic economics and otherwise. The story would expand into offenses more serious than sign-rusting; but with an ironic twist due to the pathetic, often small-time nature of it all.
Fiction writing shifted to the back burner in my life. But now I’ve picked it up again. “Bandit Signs” is back on the drawing board.
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As an aside, “bandit signs” is a common industry term for those pesky yellow placards. They’re used by “bandits” who flout local signage codes and risk getting fined. You can order signs of your own at BanditSigns.com.
Further aside, I once deployed the signs myself, off and on for a few weeks. I drove around with a borderline homeless guy named Wayne. I’d pull over, he’d pop out, and suddenly new signage would overlook the boulevard.
True and even further aside: Activists like the ones in my story started slashing the signs. The industry responded with the Sign Stapler: a long-handed tool with a staple gun at one end. The user could mount a sign 15 feet above ground, well out of reach of the slashers.
Wayne may have been unhoused, but he was Michaelangelo with the Sign Stapler. He was also an intellectual. One time I picked him up and he had a canvas bag full of library books. I asked what he was reading. He had two biographies of John Foster Dulles.
He called me once from the Jefferson County jail. He’d been arrested for some minor thing. I paid $400 to bail him out, after grilling him hard on his ability to repay. He never did.
Years later I saw him on the street. He said he didn’t remember me. I believe he was telling the truth.
But my first-ever real estate investment purchase resulted from bandit sign marketing in 2010. I still own that 4BR bungalow.
The book’s title is a double entendre, of course, referring not just to illicit signage but to all unsavory acts in real estate.
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To be clear, in my view, the bandits are mostly good people. They are scrappy business men and women willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. So my attention was piqued by this recent Facebook post from a fellow investor:
“Why is it that when there are bad people doing bad things in the real estate industry, all of us that KNOW they are bad news just keep it hush hush instead of warning people!?!?”
It was posted by Lindsey Jensen of Colorado Springs. She specializes in creative owner-financed real estate deals. We met at a conference two years ago and spoke by phone after her post.
“I heard about a novice investor who was scammed by an investment company,” she said. The victim was conned into buying two overpriced flip properties. The seller called them slam dunk money makers and promised to help with the renovation and sale.
“They did nothing,” she said. The buyer will lose money. The seller was widely known as a scammer.
I may be mining Lindsey’s memory of other bad actors. Meanwhile I’m calling for contributions from everyone else.
Tell me about your experiences. Any recollection of client abuse or underhanded self-dealing, by real estate agents or unlicensed investors. Any circumstance where innocent people were defrauded, deceived or done wrong.
Nothing is too trivial. Anonymity is fine. I don’t need the offenders’ name. I really don’t even need yours. Remember it’s fiction.
To contribute, just reply to this email or call me at 303-522-1669. Click the link to receive a free digital copy of “Bandit Signs” when it’s finished. Expected delivery date is January 1, 2025.